


Burn

by phantomthief_fee



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fantasizing about killing your boss, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: Martin Blackwood burned
Kudos: 11





	Burn

Martin Blackwood burned.

He had a calm and placid mask that he wore around others, but deep down he burned. He burned with anger and hatred and the desire to hurt those who had hurt him.

He’d kept it under wraps for so long, fearing that he would drive away those he loved if they knew how deeply his anger ran. His mother had always reacted badly whenever he’d shown anger. Whenever he’d shown **any** sort of emotion, actually. Most often with anger of her own. Yelling, screaming. She’d never laid a hand on him, though. She’d never had to.

Even now, part of him flinched whenever anyone raised their voice at him.

He hadn’t understood what he’d been doing wrong, so he assumed it was his anger. He wasn’t allowed to be angry. He didn’t _deserve_ to be angry. Angry was bad. Being angry made him a bad person. His mother’s anger always ended badly for him, and when he got angry things ended badly, so anger had to be bad.

So, he hid it. He played the peace-maker, doing his best to make everyone happy. Because if they were happy, maybe he’d be happy too. That hadn’t gone particularly well in an environment where everything wanted to kill him and his boss was an immortal manipulative asshole.

Honestly, working for the Magnus Institute had made him even angrier than he’d already been. There were more people and things that hurt him, that took away his friends. 

Not-Sasha had taken his friend from him, erased her from memory, and tortured them with the knowledge of what it had done to her. He hated it. Hated what it had done to him, to Jon, to Tim. 

He hated Jude Perry on principle. Although she’d never hurt **him** , she took pleasure in hurting others. She reminded him of a grownup version of the bullies who’d tormented him on the schoolyard. He hated bullies. 

Julia Montauk and Trevor Herbert were monsters who thought they could be judge, jury, and executioner. They killed for the sake of killing, no matter what they said. They were no better than what they killed. Worse perhaps. 

Michael had tormented them due to its own grudge against the Archives, throwing a wrench into any plans they’d had and taking great pleasure in destroying any hope they had. But it was dead now, and Helen was thankfully much nicer. Or at least more prone to helping.

Peter Lukas was already dead, so holding a grudge against him wasn’t worth it. Not to mention he’d always been more of an annoyance to Martin than anything else.

While Martin still didn’t really like Daisy, she’d at least tried to get better.

And then there was Elias. Or more accurately, the thing that wore Elias’ body. The thing that ruined the lives of everyone Martin cared about, pushing them around like pawns in his sick little game. The thing that had turned Jon into a monster. 

Martin hated him most of all. He hated being manipulated, hated being treated like nothing more than an idiotic puppet, hated that his boss saw him as nothing more than a tantruming child even when he had decided to act on his anger. He hadn’t even been considered a threat.

That had hurt perhaps more than anything. That Jonah Magnus hadn’t even considered Martin a threat in the slightest. He wasn’t worth the attention of his immortal asshole boss. 

Jonah Magnus was the one Martin wanted dead above all else. 

Jonah Magnus was the catalyst behind everything terrible that had happened. 

Sometimes Martin had fantasized about killing him, about what it would feel like. He imagined the fear in Jonah’s eyes, the realization that it was _Martin_ who was going to snuff out his life. Not Jon, not Melanie. **_Martin_**. Innocent, gentle Martin. Oh, that would be a sight to behold. Of course, they were just fantasies. Martin knew logically he lacked the power.

Burning those statements in front of him had been the best feeling in the world. His precious statements going up in smoke. Martin had done that. Martin had robbed him of some of his power. The look of rage on those borrowed features had been worth all the trauma that had ensued. Besides, it hadn’t been anything he hadn’t known deep down.

Other than that instance, though, Martin hadn’t exactly had the opportunity to take his anger out. Mostly, he’d had to focus on surviving. No time for revenge when you’re busy fighting for your life, after all. 

But now…Now all pretenses were gone. There was no need to pretend he wasn’t angry. The world had ended, everything was awful, and nothing was stopping him from taking his revenge.

All his fantasies about taking revenge on the eldritch monstrosities that had ruined the lives of him and everyone he’d loved could come to fruition. Especially since his boyfriend was an eldritch monstrosity now.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” Jon had asked when Martin had let slip some of his feelings. “Killing willy-nilly seems…wrong.”

“They forfeited their right to live a long time ago, Jon,” Martin had replied without a second thought. 

“But wouldn’t it make me no better than them?” Jon had persisted. 

“This is revenge, Jon,” Martin had assured him. “They deserve it.”

Part of him had been afraid of showing Jon how deep his anger ran before this point. But now that Jon was a literal eldritch monster, the anger thing didn’t seem as big of a deal.

When they’d set out into the world, Martin had been out for blood. Finally, he had a chance to settle the score. Finally, he could force some punishment on those who had tormented him and his friends.

Martin had shed no tears for Not-Sasha. It had deserved to die for all it had done to him and the others. 

His feelings on Jude Perry and Jared Hopworth had been much the same. Jared had attacked the Institute, had driven Melanie into the Slaughter, had driven Martin into the Lonely. Jude Perry had just been a cruel person who had taken pleasure from the pain she had inflicted upon others. 

The world would not mourn their loss. 

But as he and Jon left Jared’s bone garden, the fire in Martin’s heart began to flicker, ever so slightly.

He began to wonder if killing these monsters truly was right. It wasn’t helping the world to kill them. 

But it did make _him_ feel better. 

Maybe that was enough. Martin was tired of trying to be nice, of trying to save everyone. 

He deserved a little revenge.

**Author's Note:**

> Had more Martin thoughts. Featuring me projecting a hell of a lot!


End file.
